Chargers' playoff odds after bye week may surprise fans
By Jason Reed
The LA Chargers stumbled into the bye week with a 4-3 record and despite being a winning football team, not many fans felt great about the status of the team after seven weeks. Los Angeles still does not have a single definitive win this season while being dished out two ugly losses.
This team is a missed Cade York field goal and a botched punt by the Broncos in overtime from being 2-5 on the season. That reality has not escaped Chargers' fans, who know that the 4-3 record might not be indicative of how well this team has played this season.
That being said, the record you have is the record you have and the team itself cannot be sitting on these what-if scenarios. Instead, they need to take the fresh start that the bye week provides them and turn in a much better second half of the season.
And all that being said, with how ugly it has been for the team at times, the Bolts are still in a good position to make the playoffs. The NFL as a whole has been a slop of mediocrity this season and the Chargers are currently a playoff team in the AFC. Not only that, but the Bolts have been given favorable playoff odds after Week 8's slate of action as well.
The Chargers have a 49% chance of making the playoffs in 2022.
According to FiveThirtyEight, the LA Chargers essentially have a 50/50 percent chance of making the playoffs in the 2022 season. This helps put the entire season into perspective for those who are looking at the ugly moments from the first seven weeks and are assuming that the end is near for this team.
While a 49% chance may not seem all that high, it puts the Chargers in a firm position (odds-wise) to make the playoffs this season. Only five teams in the AFC (Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins) have a better chance of making the playoffs right now than the Bolts.
This gives the Chargers the edge over the likes of the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, New York Jets and New England Patriots, all of which are clumped together in that wild-card hunt.
At the end of the day, the Chargers still need to flip the momentum and come out of the bye week playing good football. If the team stumbles out of the gates then the odds of them rallying at the end of the year seem very slim.
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But if they can stay afloat while they get players back from injuries then as the odds show, the team has a good chance of outlasting the other mediocre teams in the AFC to at least get a chance at making a run in the playoffs.